Self Drive

Firstly it is best to get your International Licence before you leave from the NRMA or your country equivalent. Once you leave Kuta / Legian/ Seminyak the roads are very good and the scenery will blow you away. It’s often hard to decide which side to look; you travel often with the coast on one side and rice paddy fields and villages on the other. Let me tell you about our adventure. Or Hire a Driver (eg: Wayan Tattoo $60 a day plus his accommodation)

Day 1

Car Hire is so cheap we hired a 8 seater “Kia” look a like van with CD Player for $20 per day. It cost us about $30 in fuel to travel approximately 350 Kl ms around the Island. Leave early, YES this is a must to avoid the traffic and hustle and bustle of getting out of the Kuta / Legian. Our first stop was Keramas to check out the surf. With very little swell we then travelled onto Seminyak, Candidasa and stopped here for breakfast at the Temple Cafe and Seaside Cottages. The best banana pancakes I have ever had. From here we had a stop at Jesri Beach. There is a lovely home stay here right on the beach called Irene’s Home Stay.

I expected the roads to be pot holed and in need of some real repair. This is NOT so. They are very well maintained and put some of our country roads to shame. We arrived in Amed at around lunch time and found this wonderful Cafe/ Snorkelling Warung, called Dive Cafe. This was a safe spot for the kids to explore and we ate some fantastic Indonesian food. It was great to refresh in the Cafes pool before we headed through Singaraja. It sounds like that we have done a lot of klm’s today but by the time we got to Lovina it was only 204 kl from Legian.

Lovina is to me a very run down tourist town in need of some tourists. It feels even a little haunted. The beach is very polluted. Touts drive the streets looking for tourists to deliver them to hotels. We some how followed a tout to a hotel and thought what the heck we’ll enquire here. It turned into what was more like an accommodation auction. I quite enjoyed the experience. Another tout had pulled a English couple of the road, I was shown the family bungalow, the price started at 1.5 mil rup, I was prepared to pay 700,000 rup. (Includes 4 x American Breakfasts) So we all sat down in the foyer whilst the bidding took place. I did not budge on my price and won the bid. I later spoke to the tout as I presumed he would get a kick back. His job is to go to all the hotels in the morning, see what rooms are available and bring guests to them. The only payment he receives and his aim is to get you to book on a dolphin or snorkeling cruise. This we did not do. He was not deterred and shook my hand and waddled off to the next tourist. We enjoyed our stay at Bali Taman Resort and Spa.

Day 2

Next Stop Medewi pronounced Mer – Day –wee is a long left point break, rolling gently over river stones. Watch out for sea urchins. Medewi is now being built out….get there now before all the concrete buildings are complete.

Balian one of our favourite spots in Bali. Balian means Magic Healer. Situated on a wonderful peaceful river mouth. The views of the rolling surf are breath taking and you can get accommodation that is less than ten steps to the sand. What to do in Balian? Watch the surf, read, yoga, walk & rest.

This beach has captivated me and we spend a few nights here every trip. Check out my Accommodation Page at Gubug & Pondok Pitaya.

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